The present disclosure relates to methods, apparatus and devices for authenticating a call session, and in particular for authenticating a calling party of the call session over a communications network between a first and second communication terminal.
Virtual banking such as online banking and phone banking brings tremendous convenience to bank customers, since visits to the physical bank branches in person are no longer necessary for certain transactions with the bank. Similarly, telemarketing has also enhanced customer's accessibility to various services including financial services. However, the channel of telephone communication also increases risks of fraud. When a bank customer (i.e. a called party) receives a call from a bank representative (i.e. a calling party), usually there is no way for the customer to verify the true identity of the caller. This may lead to the called party divulging sensitive private information and/or financial information on a mistaken belief of the identity of the calling party, which may cause damages and losses to the called party, for example, in case of misuse or fraudulent use of such information.
Although sometimes the caller's line number and other information such as a geographic location (i.e. city, province or state at which the phone number was registered) and the subscriber's telecommunication network can be identified, such information serves limited purposes in helping the customer verifying the true identity of the calling party. In addition, many financial institutions engage services from third party vendors for certain marketing and sales activities, such as enrolling new credit card customers via phone calls. Currently, there is no existing process for the customers to verify if an incoming call session is in fact initiated by an agent is truthfully authorized by a bank.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved method and apparatus for authenticating a calling party of a call session over a communications network between two communication terminals.